Fairy tale about the kitchen god

Introduction.

The story is a Vietnamese fairy tale about the origin of the kitchen gods in Vietnamese culture. The story also has meaning about life, family affection and love. The story also explains why the kitchen god has many gods.

The Story of the Kitchen Gods

Once upon a time, there was a couple named Trong Cao and Thi Nhi. They had been married for a long time but had no children. Thi Nhi loved her husband very much and was a passionate woman. But she was tired of not having children, and the neighbors often talked behind her back. Therefore, Tron Cao’s personality changed more and more, the husband’s personality became more and more violent, often causing trouble and blaming his wife for no reason. The climax was one day, after getting drunk, Trong Cao picked up a stick and chased his wife to beat her. Although she still loved her husband, Thi Nhi was so angry that she left.

In a foreign land, because of the strange land and strange weather, she traveled for many days, Thi Nhi was hungry and thirsty and fainted in the forest. Luckily, a passerby named Pham Lang saved her. After being helped with food and shelter for a long time, Thi Nhi was moved and fell in love with Pham Lang. After many months, Pham Lang finally asked Thi Nhi to marry him. This marriage was very loving, the husband loved his wife very much, which helped Thi Nhi somewhat ease her sadness. The couple took care of production in the fields, their life was warm and happy day by day.

Talking about Trong Cao, since his wife left, he thought he was at fault, and felt regretful, so he left home to look for his wife. While searching, because he had spent all the money he brought, Trong Cao had to go begging. He kept wandering around begging. One day, he happened to knock on Pham Lang’s door. At that time, Pham Lang was away, and only Thi Nhi was home. Thi Nhi knew it was her ex-husband at first sight. But Trong Cao, on the contrary, did not recognize his wife. Because she felt sorry for her ex-husband, Thi Nhi cooked a sumptuous meal and invited her ex-husband to drink.

After being hungry and thirsty for a long time, he did not expect to be treated to a meal and wine by Thi Nhi. Trong Cao ate and drank to his heart’s content. After eating, he got so drunk that he fell asleep on a pile of straw. Thi Nhi did not want her new husband to know what had happened, so she covered Trong Cao with a pile of straw to let him sleep peacefully.

That afternoon, Pham Lang returned home, because he wanted to have ashes to fertilize the fields. He burned the pile of straw in the corner of the garden to fertilize the fields the next day. Unfortunately, the fire spread with the wind to where Trong Cao was sleeping. Thi Nhi saw the pile of straw burning and was startled, so she jumped into the burning pile of straw to save him. Pham Lang did not understand what was happening and saw his wife jumping into the burning pile of straw. Pham Lang did not hesitate to jump in to save his wife. Trong Cao was sleeping soundly and Thi Nhi was too weak to pull him out. Pham Lang was determined to pull his wife out of the fire. But the fire was so strong that all three of them quickly lost their strength and all three died in the fire. The Jade Emperor was moved by the love between the three people, so he appointed the Kitchen God to oversee the cooking and drinking for the people, and at the same time, he would examine each family’s good and bad actions throughout the year so that on the 23rd of December, he would report to him.